Hope for our Future

"Hope" is such a loaded word. Even pregnant with meaning. I'm not sure I understood the meaning before infertility. Recently, I've been thinking more about hope. Hope in God. Hope in our future. Hope for our little ones.

I was listening to Rita Springer's song "Justice" [a must download on iTunes!] about her love for her adopted African son, Justice. She hopefully sang of "hope for our future", and it got me thinking about how we hope for our little ones. But at the same time they are also hoping for us! It was not our hope to experience infertility [although we've been committed to adoption for years]. And it's not our babies' hope to lose their biological parents. But the crazy thing about God is that he weaves hope into our losses, our deepest pain, into our less-than-desired futures. And hope transforms.

Jeremiah 29:11 is a often quoted verse, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" We quote it as a promise for purpose. But what's not mentioned with that verse is the 70 years of captivity and exile prior to the announcement of that verse. Ugh. 70 years of waiting before the promise! Yet God never leaves us in that waiting. Eventually, somehow, someway, hope and future are found in waiting. God's plans for us are good; it just might come in a different package than expected.

The hope for our future is in Jesus, and we also get to experience it through adoption. For that, I am grateful.